Georgia Tech Online Masters in Computer Science for $6600

My only question with this is, will the degree itself have any traces of it being an online program? I know the lure of many other online programs is that they are identical to their in-class counterparts.

kgb

whatthehell wrote: »

Greatly interested in this ... such a great deal! Anyone else going for this?

It's on my radar. You can actually take the classes for non-credit when the pilot class starts in Jan. 2014 , if I'm remembering correctly.

instant000

blinkme323 wrote: »

My only question with this is, will the degree itself have any traces of it being an online program? I know the lure of many other online programs is that they are identical to their in-class counterparts.

If you poke around enough, you'll find an internal document (don't have the time to look for it right now), that quite clearly shows that this question came up in their internal discussions, and there will be a difference in the naming of the "Online" versus the "Regular" degree.

Here's some questions:

Is not having online on the degree name worth the extra 30K?

Does GaTech, by maintaining two degree tracks, at two different prices, imply that one is superior, and the other inferior?

tpatt100

I hear a lot that online degrees reduce the value of traditional college degrees. I can see the point with all of the online colleges that have sprung up. The for-profits really messed things up but if traditional colleges offer online degrees they themselves have control over the quality and the reputation of the degree. Offering online degrees from Harvard for example won't reduce the "value" if Harvard sticks to it's standards. If colleges stick to their standards there isn't going to be a huge surge in their degrees because their standards help ensure all they did was make it more accessible not easy to attain.

instant000

tpatt100 wrote: »

... Offering online degrees from Harvard for example won't reduce the "value" if Harvard sticks to it's standards. ...

It's interesting that you use that example, because Harvard has a particular way that it names degrees from HES (Harvard Extension School).

The degrees are called Master of Liberal Arts in Extension Studies in the field of information technology, for example. (The "in Extension Studies" part is appended to the three Master's programs I scanned over.)

Key question:

Why is the school naming the degree from the Extension School (which is taught by the exact same professors) with a different name? (A regular course is called Master of Science in Computer Science.)

EDIT: I'm not saying the two programs are equivalent, I'm saying that added "in Extension Studies" part could be judged unnecessary by some who realize it is the same instructors and the same courses. Apparently, there is a certain "prestige" of on-campus that is being guarded here.

What is even weirder is that the Extension School courses have an "on-campus" component to them ... so ... umm, yeah, it's really kind of weird.

tpatt100

Well the degree is part of their "extension" program. I think they do it to avoid all the butthurt on campus students whining about "internet people" getting the same piece of paper as they do. Well it is "a piece of paper", those who attend on campus have a different "life experience" and can make connections and probably will have a higher graduation rate since they are fully immersed into the campus life. Me? I want the education and the piece of paper is for HR, I don't care about "the life experience".

the_Grinch

I don't know if this has changed, but initially they were only opening it to employees of AT&T (thus the infusion of cash). I believe the initial program was suppose to be 150 students, then 300, and then they would be able to open it to the public. Higher education is definitely changing, though slowly. I think the number one thing you will see from all universities is a drop in price. Lots of educational consultants have been coming around and the number one thing they've said is the price points are far too high and the public knows it.

tpatt100

Well when you calculate your student loan payment against your first job the math starts to not make sense. Then you face the dilemma of "no degree no job". Except that isn't always true for IT. If I was coming into IT now a days I would push for an associates degree out of pocket and just hope for the best. Pursue the bachelors later when you get a job part time.

the_Grinch

In IT you do have a number of options:

The military - get experience doing something IT related and get school paid for plus certs
Self pay Associates - cheap enough to do, but the big thing would be getting experience well in school

With that, a lot of companies offer some sort of tuition assistance and plenty of good schools that offer affordable online education. You always have to way your options and any person I know who is graduating high school I tell to take a gap year. They don't guide you on a path of what you want to be when you get older. You say I think this, so they put you in classes for that. Taking a year off to work and figure things out is probably the best path one could take. Plus there are a lot of gap year programs now where you travel the world, earn some credits, and get to experience life a bit.

tpatt100

Well it was easier to get into IT when I did during the .com boom. I think now a days the "career changers" are the ones who will not have as much luck like back then where demand was greater than supply. The career changer can accept a pay cut but compared to a college graduate with no job, the college graduate has the advantage because they only have "up" to go or stay in neutral.

I still get emails for desktop support paying 8 dollars an hour with mileage. Must have gotten an old resume somewhere lol.

kgb

instant000 wrote: »

...

Is not having online on the degree name worth the extra 30K?

...

It's more than just the tuition cost. I'm the perfect example, I live in Virginia. It's impossible for me to get a Masters from GA Tech due to not being local.

Clearly, I'm biased. I have my degree from WGU. But, I could care less what the degree says on it, Online, not online... If someone looks down on it, I don't want to work for people in technology that are hanging onto the past. To me, at the end of the day it's all about the actual education/what you learn. That's why when they open the classes up I will be taking them simply for the knowledge. Shoot, take all the classes, learn it, then enroll and accelerate through it.

My 2cents

instant000

kgb:

Don't get me wrong. An Online MS from GA Tech is a bit more reputable than an Online MS from WGU, where my Master's is from. The issue that I have is that the forms of delivery are used as differentiators when you have the exact same professors teaching the courses! (Harvard is a better example of this than GA Tech).

In the case of GA Tech, you can see that they plan to hire a few supplemental staff, but handle thousands of additional students in the online program. The student to faculty ratio would be ginormous! So, in this case, you can say that there is an actual difference in chances of direct student to faculty interaction. (Of course, I very rarely went to see my professors directly when I did attend B&M school back in the 90s.) With the Harvard Extension, it's the exact same professors (and there is an on-campus component to the Extension Studies), so should there really be a naming difference?

Also, there is another argument about networking I saw in this thread, does this really mean that the only reason we go on campus is to network with people, and not for the education (since we can self-educate ourselves just fine without stepping foot on any campus)?

If networking is the only valid reason to attend on-campus, could we more cost-effectively network on, say, $2,000 a year worth of taking targeted people out to lunch, going to certain specific events and paying about $10,000 less on school? Or, could we most effectively network paying $20,000 a year to go to school (plus expenses, plus additional lost income) whereby we buddy up to people of influence?

I'm just trying to do the math here.

Let me know!

the_Grinch

In the article they don't mention that your degree would read "GA Tech (Online)"? I know here at Drexel, that is the first question people usually ask ("will my degree say online?"). It's not in the colleges benefit to say "online" because there isn't a huge difference and people will instantly shy away from it. I don't think it will hurt their on campus program though because it takes a special breed to do online education. If you look at retention rates, you see that a lot of people don't make it past their first year. More to the point, on the Master's side the retention rate is pretty high, but at the bachelor's level retention is terrible. I've seen a number of students who have come to get their Masters online only to switch to on-campus due to learning style. It will all equal out in the end.